Darkness in a Shiny Object
by hvesha
Summary: FIRST CHAPTER REWRITTEN! A girl finds an artifact that takes her back in time, changes her into one of the gods, and shows her who she really is.
1. Class Trip in the Ruins

Disclaimer: I did not create any of these gods or goddesses, and the tale of Persephone's kidnap is not mine. Evelyn is the only character that I can take credit for, but I didn't make up the person she represents.  
  
/b There is some suggestive content later on, but that in itself isn't all that bad, and it won't ever get, um... physical. Nothing above PG-13. But if you strongly think that it should be, let me know in a review.  
  
Author's Note: I'm not going to be that great on updating, because of school and all, but I'm expecting to get something new out probably every two weeks or less. This first chapter is more than likely going to be under construction for a while, since I did so badly to begin with. In fact, I still think it needs some buffing. Please review and tell me how to fix it! Pretty please?  
  
Evelyn was always a bit odd. When she was eight years old, the girl had been found wandering around New York. She did not know who or where she was, not even her own name much less the names of her parents. Police had found her, and brought her to a foster home to live. But she it had been tougher than anticipated, and she had lived in a total of four homes before going off to collage through scholarships. It had always bothered her that she could not remember anything before being lost.  
  
In elementary school she was a bit bossy. Her teacher was at a loss at what to do with her attitude towards the other students. She was very kind to them, but still ordered them around without quite realizing what she was doing. As she grew older, the habit left her. She seemed to mingle in with the other children quite well. She always managed to look very beautiful, though, with her long brown hair and brilliant green eyes.  
  
History always interested her, especially the religions of ancient cultures. The stories of Greek mythology always seemed to hold a strange sort of comfort for her, and though she never told anyone she felt that she already knew them. When she was twenty and in collage she majored in history, and soon a great opportunity arose for her.  
  
The teacher seemed to have a love for the Greeks also, and for years had been trying go get the students interested in raising money for a trip to Greece. When Evelyn heard about the program, she became very excited and proceeded to get her classmates to raise the money. After what seemed like hundreds of bake sales and car washes, they finally had enough. In the summer they took a plane for a month long trip in Greece.  
  
At the moment the class was exploring the ruins of a Greek fortress, destroyed in a battle long ago. The cracked stones were warm from the suns light. Dirt covered the floor, filling the cracks where small flowers had grown. Birds called out from surrounding trees, and the ocean could be heard as its waves crashed upon the shore.  
  
As their teacher lectured them on the importance of the battle and the key factor that led this place to it's downfall, Evie joined the others as they poked into various nooks and crannies along the rock wall. Most held nothing but the dust and dirt of years long gone, and it was soon time to continue the tour.  
  
As they walked away from the stones, something shiny caught the girl's eye. She walked over to a crack between two gigantic boulders and stuck her fingers in the crevice. When she pulled out her hand, it held an old and dirty silver brooch. Jewels were still in contact on the front. It seemed to be in the shape of a small flower, with a leaf on the side. The back was missing its pin, so that it would not be able to hold up the robes that it once did.  
  
Looking around quickly, Evie saw that the class was no longer around. She could hear the teacher's nagging about how the find should be donated to some sort of museum or other. "It could be a major contribution to the knowledge of the Greeks," he would say.  
  
"I wouldn't hurt anything if I cleaned it up a bit first, anyways," Evie said aloud. Something about this seemingly worthless trinket made her feel very strange, as if she were about to wake up from a dream. She shook her head to clear the feeling, and put the brooch in her pocket.  
  
The class was quite far ahead of her, and she had to jog to catch up with them. The rest of the day was the same as before, more lectures and rocks and burning sun. Back at the hotel that night, there were quite a lot of sunburns among the students, but all agreed that the teacher got the worst of it. The top of his hairless head was red and starting to peel, so that it looked as if he were fuming anytime something was said to him. After a meal downstairs, the students prepared for bed.  
  
Evie tossed and turned in her sheets, unable to get to sleep quickly. For some reason she felt strangely excited. But soon, the weariness of walking around all day caught up with her, and she slept. Her dreams were full of strange voices and whirling colors. 


	2. Olympus

(Ah, all prettiness and happy times... for now. It was fun to write this part, but I think I prefer the chaos to the calm.)  
  
There was a sound of birds, and the warmth of the sun on her face. Though she was too tired, Evie began to contemplate the idea of getting up. Instinctively she reached for the hotel clock on the bedside table that she knew would be there. Instead, there was a crashing noise as something her hand touched fell to the floor.  
  
That opened Evie's eyes, even though it was still too early to sit up yet. A woman came into the room then. She smiled when she saw Evie.  
  
"What happened, daughter? Why aren't you awake yet, what was the crash, and why is there broken glass on the floor?" The woman began to scoop up the jagged shards of a ruined vase.  
  
The morning confusion brought Evie to a sitting position, and she sleepily took in her surroundings. The bed she was on was not a hotel bed, but a large fluffy one covered in satins and silks, with a canopy over the top. Everything was blue. The marble floor, the columns that surrounded the area (there were no walls), the mosaics on the ceiling, and the many fabrics that lay here and there were hundreds of beautiful shades of blue.  
  
Except for the woman. Her robes were flowing shades of forest green, which brought out the color of her green eyes. She had long brown hair, which was pulled back into a loose bun. Evie couldn't decide what age she was. She looked very old and wonderfully young at the same time.  
  
"Persephone," the woman said as she sat on the bed beside Evie, "Do you feel feverish? Is that why you're staying in bed?" She put a cool hand on the girl's forehead.  
  
Evie's mind was working too slowly to figure out what was going on. No, maybe it wasn't that. She couldn't tell. All she felt was confusion, so she said, "I'm just a bit confused. I had the strangest dreams last night."  
  
The woman smiled and completely relaxed, when before it seemed as though she had been worried about something. "Yes, you should feel that way for a while. I'll just get you some breakfast. Now, you lay right back down for a bit. You can get up when you feel better."  
  
"Can you tell me one thing?" Evie asked as she lay back down on the pillows.  
  
"Of course, love."  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
The woman hesitated, then smiled again and said, "Demeter." She then left the room, and Evie remained to contemplate what was going on.  
  
Demeter entered the kitchen of the small house. Another goddess, Hestia, was already there, making a fire in the hearth.  
  
This goddess looked a bit older than Demeter did, with silver hair and soft orange eyes. She did not, however, look the least bit old.  
  
"How is she? Was she affected?" asked Hestia.  
  
"Oh, no, she'll be fine. A bit confused perhaps," Demeter replied.  
  
"Confused? Why?"  
  
"It's nothing to be worried about... the Fates said that she might lose her memory." When Demeter said this, she did not look at Hestia, but stared at the floor.  
  
"Her memory? She has no recollection of who you are, what she is?" Hestia's voice remained calm and kind, though the fact clearly shocked her. "Take her to Mnemosyne, ask her to try and get it back."  
  
"No," Demeter said, "I don't want to make things worse. We should just pretend that nothing happened. Live life like she's always been here. Maybe then she'll remember."  
  
"If you say so. She is your daughter." Hestia returned to feeding wood into the fire.  
  
Demeter sighed and filled a wooden bowel with fruit, and on the way out grabbed a ceramic pitcher filled with nectar. When she came into the room, Evie was still in bed, and still confused. She threw back her covers and stood when she saw the goddess, and said, "I don't know if this is some kind of joke, but what the hell happened to the class trip?"  
  
"Persephone, it must have been that dream you had," said Demeter. "I brought you breakfast. Eat."  
  
Perhaps because of the motherly tone that Demeter used, Evie automatically reached for the bowel, selecting a handful of ripe, purple grapes. When she put one into her mouth, the grape burst with a powerful flavor that she had never tasted before. She coughed, and Demeter smacked her back between the shoulder blades because she thought her daughter was choking.  
  
"I didn't know grapes tasted like that!" exclaimed Evie.  
  
"Oh, you must not have eaten them for a while and forgotten what they tasted like. You'll remember, dear. Here, drink this. It will wash down the taste if you don't like it."  
  
"I like it; it just wasn't what I expected." Evie took the cup that Demeter handed to her, the nectar of immortality that the gods drink. It tasted very sweet, but not too sweet. It tasted like the rays of the sun, like the laughing waters of crystal clear rivers, like the sweetest fruit on the earth, all in one gulp.  
  
After she drank, Evie no longer felt confused. Instead she felt that she needed to figure things out.  
  
When Demeter left with the food and drink, Evie found a mirror hanging on one of the pillars, and she gazed at herself. Her skin seemed to glow, and no longer had any of the blemishes that she had the day before. The clothes she wore were the softest fabric she had ever touched, and they were the lightest shade of blue, almost white. Her hair was the same length, down to her waist, but it was thicker and shinier. The brooch she found was no longer around her neck, but holding up her dress. But her eyes were the same old green, the only comfort of familiarity to her in this strange place.  
  
(If Demeter thinks I'm so confused, maybe I can get some questions explained,) thought Evie. So when her 'mother' returned, she asked, "Where are we, exactly?"  
  
"On Mount Olympus, in the house of Hestia," answered Demeter. She didn't seem suspicious or anything, so Evie continued.  
  
"Do you know what time it is?"  
  
Demeter walked past Evie to one of the pillars and looked out. Evie followed, and saw a pretty little garden on the back of the house (if it could be called that, it was so open). A sundial was set in the middle, surrounded by multitudes of pretty flowers.  
  
"Helios has been in his chariot for about three hours now," Demeter said.  
  
"So... it's about seven thirty?" Evie squinted as she tried to get a better look at the sundial.  
  
"Yes. And it's about time you go and do your chore."  
  
Evie blinked. "Chore? What chore?"  
  
Demeter laughed and said, "You volunteered to pick flowers for the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Don't you remember?"  
  
"Oh, uh, sure I do. It must've slipped my mind."  
  
"Good. I asked Artemis if she would go with you. She said she isn't busy, so you just wait here until she comes." Demeter walked out again.  
  
Evie sat down on the bed. Confused or not, she thought this was pretty cool, being in the place that she and her classmates were just learning about in school. So, she decided to play along for the time being.  
  
She didn't have to wait long until Artemis came into the room. She seemed about Evie's age, and wore a short leather dress with her black hair in a braid. A bow and quiver of arrows were strapped to her back.  
  
"Are you ready to go?" she asked Evie.  
  
"Sure, ready when you are." The girls walked out of the house into the full sunshine. They passed other houses, which looked as though they were built out of silver and gold. Evie couldn't see inside any of them, so she had no idea who lived where.  
  
They went down the steep stairs of the mountain, to the golden gates that barred Olympus from the mortal world. The gates swung silently open as the girls approached, and they passed through.  
  
(I've decided that I'm not going to post any more until I get at least one review. C'mon, people! I don't care if you flame me or congratulate me, as long as I know that there's something I need to improve on or that I'm doing a good job.) 


	3. Rough Riders

(Ah, the chaos approaches. You gotta love it.)  
  
The field they came to was covered in a thick layer of tall grasses and fragrant flowers. On the way down, the daughters of Oceanus met them and decided that they would like to pick flowers too. Each had blue-green hair, like the sea, and wore clothing of similar colors. The nymphs were very hyper about the wedding, and they would not stop talking.  
  
As Evie picked her flowers, she came to find their endless chatter quite annoying. She told Artemis, who shrugged.  
  
"They're always like this. It'll get worse at the wedding though, I can tell you that much."  
  
"When is the wedding, anyway?" asked Evie.  
  
"Three days from today. It's supposed to be the biggest celebration for the gods this year." While they were talking, Evie and Artemis were slowly walking away from the crowd of gossiping girls. The sun was getting higher in the sky, and after a while it was time to eat.  
  
Of course, because she was itching to go hunting, Artemis offered to go and get some game in the nearby woods and prepare it for lunch. The nymphs didn't even shut up long enough to hear what she was saying, much less care. When she left, Evie walked away from the group, and went for a little walk on her own.  
  
She had gone only about fifty paces, when the sounds of the nymph's voices had died behind her. Evie removed her sandals and walked barefoot on the sun-warmed ground. The flowers and grasses were tall, and came up to her waist. The sky was cloudless and bright, and the air was sweet.  
  
After a while of walking like this, Evie came to an area with short grass and flowers. She realized how far she'd walked away from the group, and turned to walk back. As she did, though, she smelled something wonderful, and continued into the short grass.  
  
Evie soon stumbled upon a beautiful flower, more majestic and grand than anything she has seen so far. Its petals were black, but reflected the light in many different colors. The smell coming from it was many different smells in one, like the nectar of the gods had many different tastes. She knew that this was the one, the narcissus flower that would lead to her "doom". But even while she thought this, another part of her wanted to pick it, to hold it to her face, feel its petals.  
  
The nymphs had realized she was gone, and had been following her slowly. Now Evie could hear them again, but she paid them no mind. After all, she wouldn't have to listen to them for long.  
  
She kneeled to the ground, broke the stem in one swift movement, and then quickly stood up. Nothing happened. (Maybe this is the wrong one,) she thought.  
  
But her thought came too soon. The ground began to shake and tremble, and the ground began to crack. The nymphs were in hysterics, screaming and running about as if the ground was swallowing them up instead of just shaking and cracking.  
  
It looked as though a canyon of sorts had formed from the ground, and then a black carriage, drawn by strange reptilian-like flying horses, burst forth from the opening. To avoid the hooves kicking out at her, Evie tried to step back, but since the ground was still shaking she only managed to fall back on her butt. She was amazed, but only a little frightened, and so let out a loud, "Holy shit!" at the spectacle.  
  
The carriage flew up, then turned around and headed straight for the girl. Evie stood again, a bit hesitantly because the horses were kicking and flying so recklessly that she thought they'd hit her. But Hades was a better driver than that, so when he grabbed Evie by the waist and lifted her into the chariot, she wasn't harmed at all.  
  
Now came the part that she didn't expect. In order to go straight into the crevice he had just created, Hades had to fly directly down into it. Evie had gone on roller coasters before, but she had never liked them all that much. This was like a coaster, with Hades' arm as her seatbelt, except she was standing and there was utter darkness all around them, with the occasional scream or squeal from the horses (if that was what they were).  
  
She tried to scream, or yell, but her breath had been taken away from her, which only made things worse. Suddenly, after what seemed like ages, the chariot was pulled into it's normal horizontal position. They had reached the bottom, and it wasn't the most graceful of saves, so the bottom of the carriage smacked the rocky bottom of the underground floor.  
  
It was now that Evie realized how fast they were actually going. It was lighter down here, due to the eerie glow of iridescent mushrooms on the walls and ceiling, so she could see the things around her. They passed over a total of five rivers. The first was the Acheron (river of woe), then the Cocytus (river of lamentation), the Phlegethon (river of fire), the Styx (river of unbreakable oath), and the Lethe (river of forgetfulness). Their dark waters (except for the Plegethon) looked like shiny black ribbons in a dreary gray world. Charon was busy rowing more souls down the rivers, and paid the speeding chariot no mind. Cerberus' three heads were all sleepily lying on the floor of the cavern, and they pricked up their nine ears at the approach of their master.  
  
Within seconds, the cart landed roughly onto the ground, and Evie stumbled out, still dizzy and breathless. It was then that she had her first look at her new home. 


	4. New Home

Author's note: So sorry about the former paragraph messup, and thank you for the lovely reviews! This only took so long because of that bloody thing called homework. I'm not putting in the part when Demeter goes to that village and puts the baby in the fire to make him immortal because I am trying to focus on this myth for the moment. And I know that all of this took place, like, a lot longer than I'm saying it is, but it's just another part of my version. Oh, and I forgot to put in the disclaimer, so I'll stick it in here until I fix the first chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: I neither own nor created any of these gods or goddesses, and the tale of Persephone's kidnap is not my own, I am just tweaking it to my own likes.  
  
It was dark. The only light came from iridescent jewels and fungi that were embedded in the ceiling. A solitary building filled the crevice of a corner in the cavern's walls. The architecture was simple, yet grand and made to impress. The stone looked as though it was made of the same material as the walls around it, and you could only actually see the building if the lights were on inside because of the camouflage. Every window was glowing with soft lamplight now, but even that looked cold and unwelcoming in this dreary place.  
  
A servant came from what looked like stables on the side of the house. Evie looked into his eyes for any sign of life, but there was none. He was like a zombie, walking slowly and quietly, his footsteps not making any sound. When he reached the chariot, Hades silently handed him the reins of the screeching creatures, and with the chariot still attached, the man silently guided them back to be put away.  
  
At first Hades seemed to be ignoring Evie, and then she realized that he didn't know what to do next. He tried not to make eye contact with her, and yet stood by as if waiting for something to happen.  
  
After a short while of uncomfortable silence, Evie said, "Nice place you have down here. Not very lively." She meant it as a joke, but Hades wasn't laughing.  
  
However, she did surprise him. Or something like that. Maybe she just woke him up from his previous confusion, because he gently touched her arm and said, "Come. I'll show you around inside."  
  
Gray granite doors moved open silently as the couple passed through. The floor was made of granite also, and gleamed from the light of the torches that lined the walls. A glittering chandelier of thousands of different gems hung from the ceiling. Evie smiled at the sparkling decoration, but that was all that adorned the forum. Instead of a wall in the back there were pillars, tall, dark and straight. Behind that was the courtyard, which instead of flowers held more of the magnificent gems and fungi, along with more torches.  
  
Hades led her down the hallway to the left, which looked no different than the forum. He held out his left hand, gesturing to an open doorway and said simply, "Here is the dining room." They stopped so that Evie could get a good look.  
  
This room held pillows and drapes made of the finest fabrics. The walls were covered in majestic purple curtains, and in the middle of the room sat two comfortable looking couches surrounded by multitudes of dark green, deep blue, and black colored pillows. One table used to hold the food stood in the back. An intricate silver lantern hung by the ceiling and gave off a light that seemed more real than the flickering torchlight had been. The room was a bit small, but it was only used for eating after all.  
  
As the tour progressed, Evie saw the bathroom (plumbing wasn't invented yet, but other than that it was nice overall), the kitchen (which Hades said she wouldn't come in a lot anyway, the servants would take care of preparation), and the throne room, which was the largest room in the house. A glittering mosaic of jewels for the floor made an impressive statement, and the throne itself was solid gold and covered in expensive silks and satins. Evie knew that Hades was known as the god of wealth, and this proved the statement to her.  
  
Finally, Hades brought her to the bedroom. Like the dining room, fabrics covered the walls in dark, sensual shades of red. The bed was the main focal point, in the middle of the room. It was low, huge, and surrounded by a canopy of crimson sheer curtains. There were a lot of pillows here as well. No windows were on the walls, and the lighting was from oil lamps set here and there. No jewels showed their glittery faces here. There was a table with a stool covered in red fabric, but that was the only other furniture.  
  
This was the part Evie had been dreading. She was a virgin, and wasn't really looking forward to having a wedding night with a man she had known for about an hour now, god or not. She became very nervous, and tried not to look at Hades as she said, "Your house is very beautiful. I like it a lot."  
  
"It is your home now. Feel free to go where you wish in it, though I do advise you not to go wandering around outside. There are... disturbing things which you might not want to come in contact with," Hades said. It seemed as though he became relieved whenever Evie said something, as if he were expecting her to hate the whole thing. Evie couldn't blame him. After all, all he knew about her was that she was a beautiful girl and the daughter of Demeter. He was just waiting for her to burst into tears.  
  
Evie did have many questions, and now that Hades was replying to them she didn't feel as nervous any longer. "Can you hear them, the dead guys I mean?"  
  
"Here you cannot. These walls were built to block all of that, and the house itself is not located next to the dead. Have no fear of coming into contact of any kind with them. That is my duty, to judge the dead and keep them where they are supposed to be."  
  
Now she looked at him, and saw an expression of profound loneliness on his face, especially in his brown eyes. She studied his features for a short while. He had short brown hair, neatly trimmed, was clean-shaven, and had smooth, tanned skin. Evie liked him. Not because of his looks, or his wealth, or the pleasurable feelings he gave her when he looked her way or spoke, but because she felt that she was the only one that could ever chase that lonely look from his eyes. That gave her a feeling of purpose, though what she had to do to accomplish that goal was still making her nervous at the moment.  
  
But, thankfully, Hades began to talk again. "I will be gone most days, so you will have the entire house to yourself. If you need a servant to help you with something, just go to the kitchens, there's usually someone there. I need to go get some work done, so... you can do what you like."  
  
With that little speech, he left Evie standing alone in the room. She was relived, and at the same time annoyed that she had to find something to pass the day away on her own. In fact, she had lost all track of time in this dreary place. She did not feel tired, or hungry, but not satisfied knowing that it could very well be midnight on the earth. That she would have to change.  
  
As Hades walked out of the palace, he mused to himself, as he had done so many times this day, about his new bride. Before he left in his chariot, he was not looking forward to how the young girl would react to the ambush. He was absolutely sure that she would cry, and say that she hated him and this place, and demand to see her mother.  
  
From watching her childhood, he knew that was just what she would have done. But then there was those ten years that she was nowhere to be found. Nobody knew what had happened, but then again they didn't dare ask the overprotective mother of her whereabouts.  
  
But whatever had happened to her, Hades liked the change very much. He was still doubtful that she could ever love him the way she did in his daydreams, but there was more hope of that now that he had witnessed her behavior for himself. So he was a little hopeful, for the moment.  
  
But for now he had to clear his head of thoughts. There were souls to judge, and he needed full concentration for the job.  
  
The biggest problem Evie had with the house was the lack of noise. The servants looked human enough, but every time she tried to talk to them it was either "Yes mistress," or "I don't know mistress," or "What would you like, mistress?" She soon tired of talking to any of them and retreated to the bedroom. There she sang to herself, and came up with new melodies, until she finally became bored with that. Then the thought hit her.  
  
(I'm a goddess, right? So, I should have goddess powers. But how the hell am I supposed to use them?)  
  
She tried silently wishing for an apple and waved her hand. Nothing happened, so she did the same thing in a more elaborate manner. She also tried saying all the magic words she had learned as a child, such as "Abracadabra," and "Hocus Pocus," but that didn't work, either.  
  
The next thing she tried was something she had read in a fantasy book once. She tried to picture the apple in her mind, making it as clear and detailed as she could. Then she had to decide what exactly her power was, where it lay. At first she thought of her mind, but it was currently occupied with the apple. Then she thought about her heart, her soul. The number one emotion that she knew from the heart was love. There was nobody on earth that she really loved; she had been an orphan and didn't have many good friends. So she thought of Demeter, her "mother" for the time, and thought about how caring and loving the goddess of harvest had been towards her. She cared for her for that, maybe even loved her, so that was what she used as her power. She loved Demeter.  
  
There was a soft thud on the table that she was sitting at. When Evie opened her eyes, an apple was sitting there. A perfect, red apple, just like the one she had pictured.  
  
At first Evie just sat there with her mouth open. She knew she couldn't eat anything here, not yet, and she didn't know if this apple counted since she had made it herself. But to be on the safe side, she didn't want to eat it. So she poked it, so see if it was real. It felt solid, and fell over as a result of the poke.  
  
Ecstatic at the discovery of what she could do, Evie couldn't help but laugh long and hard, mostly at the ridiculousness of conjuring up an apple from mid air. When she finished laughing, she decided to do something about the time down here.  
  
Using the same technique as she did with the apple, she pictured in her mind a lantern. It was very simple, made of silver and glass, shaped as a bowl with pretty patterns, and it was a miniature copy of the light of the sun on earth. It appeared on the table, just as the apple did. The thing was very beautiful, and bright, but not too bright. The silver symbols on the frosted glass were used to show what hour it was. Right now the line marked three was glowing, so it was three o'clock in the afternoon on the surface.  
  
Delighted with her new invention, Evie used a hook and string that she had borrowed from the servants to hang it on the ceiling of the room in plain sight. It had a wonderful effect on everything, and made it seem almost bright and cheery. She had also put the apple in the kitchen, so it wasn't wasted and she didn't have the temptation to eat it.  
  
Back on Mount Olympus, Demeter was distraught. She couldn't find Persephone. Artemis didn't know what had happened, since she had gone hunting, and forgot to mention that the nymphs were with her. Hestia tried to provide comfort, but there was none for the weeping mother.  
  
"She had just come back, it was her first day back, and now she's gone," cried Demeter. "I should never have sent her out."  
  
"There now, you aren't helping things by just sitting there and crying, now are you?" asked Hestia.  
  
Demeter ignored her, and buried her face in her hands. The kind Hestia continued to try and talk her out of her sadness, but she acted as though no one was speaking at all.  
  
Finally, Hestia stood in front of the weeping goddess, and said, "If you really are that upset, then why don't you go looking for her instead of sitting here?" And with that she left, since she could think of nothing else to say to her.  
  
Poor Demeter wept for a few minutes longer, and then wrapped herself in a shawl. Through the golden gates she passed, and down the mountain side, until she was among the vast wilderness in the world of the mortals. And for the next three days she wandered, with neither food nor drink. Since she was not taking care of the vegetation as she normally did, the world fell into its first winter, and all the earth was frozen in a harsh, white blanket of cold ice and snow.  
  
After her spell casting Evie had felt suddenly very tired and went to sleep in the gigantic bed. Her dreams were of the field, the sun, the warmth of the surface. Then, suddenly, a cloud fell over everything, and she had a flashback.  
  
When she was eight years old, Evie had been found wandering around in the city in America. She did not know who or where she was, not even her own name or the names of her parents. Police had found her, and brought her to a foster home to live. But the girl had been a bit of a trouble maker, and had lived in a total of four homes before she went off to collage, which she got to by earning scholarships. It had always bothered her that she could not remember anything before being lost. Then there was that day, that glorious day of the class trip in Greece, when she found the brooch. She could have sworn that she felt some recognition, some familiarity from the jeweled wonder.  
  
The lamp from above was dim silver when she awoke, and the markings on the orb read that it was ten o'clock at night. Evie stretched, and rose to light a lamp or two.  
  
As she turned around, she saw that a small oil lamp on the table was flickering with a tiny light of its own. Evie did not remember ever lighting it. Then she saw a movement in the shadows, and even though she tried hard not to, she couldn't help but emit a small gasp in surprise.  
  
"Don't be afraid. It's just me." Hades was sitting on the stool nest to the wall, or that was what Evie assumed judging from where his voice was coming from.  
  
Evie had nothing to say. She was a bit ashamed that she had gasped, since she didn't want to give the god the impression that she was one of those girls that were afraid and couldn't fend for themselves.  
  
Hades stood, and stepped forward so that Evie could see him clearly in what little light there was. He was dressed in a plain, simple garment that had short sleeves and came down above the knees, and resembled pajamas. "Nice work on the light," he said, pointing to the lamp. "Very creative."  
  
"What were you doing there?" Evie had a small suspicion that he was waiting for her to wake up so that he could have his wedding night, and her nervousness returned. It wasn't that she wasn't able to want him as well; it was just that everything was happening so fast that she didn't know what she wanted anymore.  
  
"I was, um, watching you sleep." Hades looked down at the floor as he said this, as if he were feeling embarrassed. "You looked so lovely, and I didn't want to disturb you."  
  
Evie couldn't stand the wondering any longer, so she asked, "Are you wanting to... you know... do what husbands and wives do?" He looked a bit confused, so she said, "Um, I mean, go to bed, sleep together, lie with me..."  
  
"Oh, that," Hades said. Now he was the one who looked uncomfortable. "I want to be truthful, so I will say that I want it with all of my heart. I have loved you since I had first known you, and that love has grown into a passion that I cannot ignore. But, I wish for you to want it as much as I do. I will not force you to lie with me if you do not want to."  
  
Evie felt so relieved that she smiled. Seeing her do that brought a smile to Hades' face as well, and it was the most wonderful and surprising smile the girl had ever seen. His once lonely and melancholy face was suddenly lit up and had a visible spark of joy in it.  
  
It looked as though she was doing her job after all. 


End file.
